CAE Reading and Use of English Part 8
You are going to read an article about dolphin intelligence. For questions 47-56, choose from the sections (A-D). The sections may be chosen more than once. When more than one answer is required, these may be given in any order.
In which section are the following mentioned?
47 a frustration expressed by some __
48 a comparison between dolphins and unknown entities __
49 a fundamental flaw in the way dolphins are studied __
50 an example of dolphins’ parental behaviour __
51 evidence of changeable dolphin behaviour __
52 a turning point in technological advances __
53 features dolphins once shared with other animals __
54 an analogy used to convey one of two possible outcomes __
55 a combination of movements used to communicate __
56 an innate understanding of animal behaviour __
Dolphin intelligence
Unlocking the mysteries of dolphin communication
A The acrobatic acts of dolphins have fascinated humans, but scientists are now more interested in how dolphins think than in what they can do. When the head researcher presses her palms together over her head, the signal to innovate, and then puts her fists together, the sign for tandem, she has instructed a pair of dolphins to show her a behaviour and to do it in unison. As they disappear below the surface, another researcher carrying a large underwater video camera with hydrophones sinks with them. He records several seconds of audible chirping between them, then his camera captures them both slowly rolling over in unison and flapping their tails simultaneously. There are two possible explanations of this remarkable behaviour. Either one dolphin is mimicking the other so quickly and precisely that the apparent coordination is only an illusion. Or when they whistle back and forth beneath the surface, they’re literally discussing a plan.
B When a chimpanzee gazes at a piece of fruit or a silverback gorilla beats his chest to warn off an approaching male, it’s hard not to see a bit of ourselves in those behaviours and even to imagine what the animals might be thinking. We are, after all, great apes like them, and their intelligence often feels like a familiar version of our own. But dolphins are something truly different. They ‘see’ using sonar and do so with such phenomenal precision that they can tell from a hundred feet away what something is made of. Their eyes operate independently of each other. They’re a kind of alien intelligence sharing our planet – watching them may be the closest we’ll come to encountering an extra-terrestrial.
C Dolphins are extraordinarily garrulous. Not only do they whistle and click, but they also emit loud broadband packets of sound called burst pulses to discipline their young and chase away sharks. Scientists listening to these sounds have long wondered what they might mean. Yet despite a half century of research, we are none the wiser. Virtually no evidence supports the existence of anything resembling a dolphin language, and scientists have been known to voice exasperation at the continued quixotic search. However, other researchers see circumstantial evidence that the problem simply hasn’t yet been looked at with the right set of tools. Only recently have high-frequency underwater audio recorders been able to capture the full spectrum of dolphin sounds. In the past couple of years, new data-mining algorithms have made possible a meaningful analysis of those recordings. Ultimately dolphin vocalisation is either one of the greatest unsolved mysteries of science or one of its greatest blind alleys.
D Why did dolphins, of all the creatures roaming land and sea, acquire such large brains? To answer that question, we must look at the fossil record. About 34 million years ago the ancestors of modern dolphins were large creatures with wolflike teeth. Around that time, it’s theorised, a period of significant oceanic cooling shifted food supplies and created a new ecological niche, which offered dolphins opportunities and changed how they hunted. Dolphins became more communicative, more social – and probably more intelligent. Researchers have identified three levels of alliances within their large, open social network and found that two dolphins can be friends one day and foes the next. All these behaviours have the mark of intelligence. But what is intelligence really? When pressed, we often have to admit that we’re measuring how similar a species is to us. The question is not how smart are dolphins, but how are dolphins smart?
Answer Keys
Part 1
1 A — case. When something is the case, it means that this is the objective reality, e.g. ‘we hoped the problem with the car was drained battery, but that wasn’t the case’. The meaning of the sentence is that the problem was something else, not the battery.
2 D — justify. Justifying something means trying to find an excuse or a valid reason for some action. In this case, people are trying to justify not remembering something by the fact that it is always easily reachable on the Internet, therefore there is little point keeping it in your head.
3 A — vitally. To be vitally important means to be of great importance. The remaining three adverbs do not form proper collocation.
4 A — Although. The only conjunction here that can work at the beginning of the sentence to introduce contrast between two facts: the large capacity of our long-term memory and the very limited one of the so-called ‘working memory’.
5 B — overloaded. Referring to memory, overload means trying to memorize too much, which leads to partial or complete memory failure. In other words, if we try to keep track of too many things at once, we will inevitably forget one or more of them.
6 C — Therefore. ‘Therefore’ is an introductory word that connects the statement from the previous sentence and the one that follows it. We have more information in our long-term memory, and this creates a better system of understanding, enabling us to process and analyze new data more effectively. ‘Thereby’ has a meaning of ‘in this way’, ‘as a result of’ e.g. ‘My professional license was taken from me, thereby leaving me with no way to find a job’.
7 C — digest. Digesting here is used figuratively, and regarding to information it means to process or analyze it, to have a deeper understanding of it.
8 B — remove. ‘Remove’ is the only verb that collocates well with ‘necessity’. Collocations in general are a big part of Use of English C1.
Part 2
9 Contrastingly/however. We want to draw contrast between the frightened school staff and the children who were genuinely interested in the event.
10 up. To round somebody/something up is a phrasal verb that means ‘to gather in one group’ – obviously referring to the effort of catching all the bees here.
11 which. ‘All if which’ refers to getting the bee hive, organizing the related classes and learning about the whole thing. Here we have a case of so-called non-restrictive case, or simply put, one that comes after a comma here.
12 is. We can see a case of passive voice here. Note that nectar is uncountable and therefore grammatically it is singular as far as subject-verb agreement goes.
13 all. Probably the easiest gap in the sentence with no obvious difficulties or caveats.
14 have. Present Perfect shows the effect that took place in the past and is still evident in the present.
15 Although/though/while/whilst. A common challenge is to contrast one part of the sentence with the other – in this case the seemingly difficult idea of making children more responsible proved to be an easy task. Notably, in this text we have two instances where contrast is needed – this is unusual and is normally not the case.
16 be/present. ‘To present a challenge’ is another well-known collocation for any C1-C2 speaker of English. The much easier variant with ‘to be’ is also acceptable.
Part 3
17 worthwhile. Worth doing, considering, taking seriously, and so on. Another option you might consider is ‘worthy’ with a slightly different, but similarly positive meaning. The catch is that it needs ‘of’ to work, e.g.: ‘This idea is worthy of your attention’.
18 unnoticed. If something doesn’t go unnoticed, it catches public attention. Mind the spelling with double ‘n’ here.
19 employees. Make sure to use the plural form and, once again, be careful spelling the word.
20 frequency. We are clearly looking for a noun, judging by the context. This particular gap should pose no difficulty.
21 graceful. Another case of context being of help here; we need an adjective with a positive meaning.
22 inactivity. To counteract is to neutralize something by acting against it. The movement counteracts something that is the opposite of it – the inactivity that comes with an office job.
23 accuracy. We have to connect the adjective ‘enhanced’ right before the gap to a noun. Keep your spelling on the right side of things!
24 dramatically. This time we require an adverb to modify the adjective after the gap. Remember that the ending is ‘-ally’, not ‘-lly’.
Part 4
25 nothing was/there was nothing more important. ‘More’ as the key word can be confusing here – it is a comparative adjective, but the original sentence doesn’t really have two things to compare. Therefore, we use ‘nothing’ and the negative form to make the comparison work.
26 evaluation/test would take place. ‘To take place’ is a common set phrase with the meaning ‘to happen’. We get some freedom to phrase the changed sentence. Do not try to change ‘would’ in the original sentence to ‘will’, otherwise you will either be deducted one point or get no points at all.
27 up winning the race despite. To end up doing something means to do something that you didn’t plan to do, or in this case, didn’t hope to. ‘Despite’ is an important part of the sentence. A similar structure ‘in spite of’ cannot work here because then the phrase exceeds the limit of six words.
28 to Hanna’s surprise the/her company offered. When something happens to your surprise, you don’t expect it to happen. Here the phrase is slightly altered: ‘Much to Hanna’s surprise’ – meaning she didn’t expect it at all. Note that after ‘surprise’ we would normally put a comma, but you are not expected to add any punctuation marks in CAE Reading and Use of English, so don’t bother.
29 keep track of (the) time. Yet another set phrase, to keep track of something is to keep count of it. The opposite is ‘to lose track of something’.
30 made a point of introducing. To make a point of doing something is to try your best or make considerable effort to do it. Probably the most difficult transformation in this batch.
Part 5
31 A. Crawford says that people want to be aware and in command of what they think about and pay attention to, and this is getting increasingly difficult as they see ads everywhere. Examples of videogames and phone apps are in the text. Advertising doesn’t damage our skills to communicate – instead, we simply choose not to communicate with strangers to start with. It doesn’t make us forget things either – there is just a minor example of not remembering some particular conversations.
32 B. The answer lies here: ‘… but for Crawford it’s more that the technology has created the perfect vehicles for our self-obsession.’ To facilitate means to make something easier, to assist in something – in this particular case, to make us focus on ourselves. This comes at the cost of decreased awareness of what is outside – the world. Answer A is not good – the research is there, but there hasn’t been much scientific proof to show for it. The opposite of answer D can be seen – people have been concerned about our attention spans shortening since the invention of the telegraph.
33 D. The gym music example shows how people used to have to engage in (potentially dangerous) social situations, which is no longer the case. It doesn’t mean that the author supports arguing or violence, but instead he is concerned about the increased social isolation that has been on the rise recently.
34 B. Probably the easiest question in this part, ‘each’ refers to the two people engaged in different extreme activities.
35 A. Crawford encourages once again to interact with the world and be attentive. Do something yourself rather than watch somebody else do it expecting to receive similar experience through that person. ‘Expanding on the merits’ basically means giving more information about the benefits of his method of experiencing things first-hand. The second thing is to try to stay focused on one thing. Both of these advices are in the previous paragraph, so he just reiterates the usefulness of them both, trying to reinforce his previous points.
36 D. The confusing here might be the meaning of the word ‘appreciates’. Here, the idea is that he acknowledges the fact that the temptation to be distracted is too big, so one shouldn’t feel surprised when they unknowingly drift away from the matter at hand. The ‘general idea’ type of questions have no cut-and-dry approach or shortcuts of any kind to help you pick the right answer quickly – you have to take the text as a whole and elicit the idea from it.
Part 6
37 D. Speaker B believes that even though a photo can be reprinted multiple times, it does not take away from its artistic merit. Speaker D concurs, giving an analogy of the more traditional form of art – sculpting. A bronze statue can be recast and reproduced industrially on a large scale, while still retaining the noble status of art.
38 C. The original speaker believes that decent equipment allows a non-professional to take good shots despite their lack of expertise. In defence of professional photographers, Speaker C says that even if a beginner manages to take a decent shot, such success is unlikely to happen again, let alone consistently.
39 B. The very first sentence of speaker D states that at the time of their creation, many photographs that are considered art today were simply pictures of things. Speaker B voices a similar idea, but about the genre of photography itself rather than any photo in particular: ‘… although the idea that photography could be art at one time appeared absurd to many people…’. Therefore, both acknowledge that photography didn’t enjoy being acknowledged as an art form from its inception.
40 A. The only speaker here who is openly sceptical about the artistic qualities of photography. They are critical of people who claim that photography should be considered art and say, that the only thing that connects it to art is the fact that pictures are taken deliberately – probably referring to the fact that art is artificial, manmade, rather than natural.
Part 7
41 E. The ‘seemingly insurmountable problems’ mentioned in paragraph E is what helps us make the choice here. The problems refer to soaring numbers of people with heart problems and obesity. The end of this paragraph poses a question – why couldn’t we come up with a solution earlier? The answer then follows in the next paragraph.
42 G. ‘As well as these substances’ refers to aspartame and acesulfame K that come at the very end of the previous paragraph. Then paragraph G introduces a new idea of natural sweeteners – one that connects well with the paragraph that comes later and mentions the problems associated with sugar replacements.
43 B. ‘Health scares’ and ‘suspicions’ connect well here to expand on the idea of how the general public perceives additives. Moreover, ‘labeling problems’ mentioned at the beginning of the paragraph after the gap refers to producers’ initiative to make foods without artificial sweeteners, so they wouldn’t have to list them on the label. That is because consumers have been growing increasingly aware of the bad effects sweeteners might have on them.
44 F. The previous as well as this paragraph focus on the downsides of artificial sweeteners.
45 A. ‘Things are looking up’ from the paragraph before the gap points at the fact that sugar substitutes are going to be more successful in the future. Paragraph A then mentions ‘rehabilitation’ and the role of scientists in that – in other words, how scientists helped prove that these substitutes are not as bad as they might seem.
46 C. ‘Such ploys’ from the last paragraph refers to the practice of mixing different sugar substitutes together. A ploy is a cunning plan aimed at achieving a certain goal, especially if it means turning an unfavourable situation around.
Part 8
47 C. Scientists ‘voice their exasperation’ at the fact that they couldn’t find any conclusive evidence regarding dolphin’s so-called ‘language’ despite all their efforts.
48 B. They are compared to the ‘extra terrestrials’ – aliens from different world, something we have no knowledge of, hence the unknown entity. Giving paragraph D as the answer because of the ‘wolflike teeth’ is wrong, as it is a part of some other animal to what it is compared, not the entity itself.
49 D. The last two sentences of the paragraph contain the answer – we are measuring the wrong thing and asking the wrong question.
50 C. Dolphins use certain sound frequencies to ‘discipline their young’ – that is, to make sure their offspring behave in the way they should.
51 D. The example of how dolphins can change from being friendly to hostile to one another is the key to the answer.
52 C. High-frequency underwater recorders were the technological turning point, allowing deeper insight into the ‘language’ of dolphins.
53 D. The teeth that dolphins used to have many years ago, as suggested by the way they are described, were similar to what wolves have.
54 C. First of all, we have to understand what an analogy is. It is a comparison made between two things for the purpose of explaining something or making it more clear. Last sentence of paragraph C has it – more relatable, real life analogies make the extent of the problem easier to understand for a non-professional. The examples in the last two sentences of paragraph A do not fit the answer.
55 A. Acts of rolling over and flapping their flippers are the communicative actions that we are looking for.
56 B. The first two sentences show that the actions of animals are not that difficult to understand, possibly because we can relate to that, being nothing more than just more developed ape species.
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